


Conscience Makes Cowards of us All

by SpaceValkyrie



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 05:20:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9705113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceValkyrie/pseuds/SpaceValkyrie
Summary: Quinn gets existential with two non-humans and somehow feels poetic.Nick is more poetic though, apparently.





	

"What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! In form, in moving, how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?"

"ENOUGH WITH WORDS. Shove your meat in your mouth hole, human." 

"Eloquent as always, Strong."

The fire screamed the agony of a crackling log. Through the flames, I watched Strong's face wrinkle into a look of disgruntlement. It reminded me of the way Papa used to look when me and the neighborhood kids were being too loud for his liking. So he couldn't listen to his "shows" on the radio. Except this guy was green. And about as big as a baby whale. "Eat that meat. Human need to be stronger. Human weak and twig-like. Twigs burn. See?" To emphasize his point, he jabbed a finger at the bonfire we had going. The fire crackled threateningly; and a log gave way to the mound of ashes underneath it, spitting embers into Strong's hand. A growl left him that shook the very ground beneath my feet; Valentine, who was sitting next to me on an overturned refrigerator, actually laughed aloud. I'd never heard him laugh like that before.

"Oh, shut up,. you big baby," I cooed. I obliged him - just in case, you know, he decided his gesture of goodwill, following me around and being my meat shield, wasn't a good gig anymore - and chewed off a bit of the cooked brahmin meat he'd handed me. "It's not that bad," I murmured, tough-ass meat rolling around my mouth.

".....Hum. Human right for once. Human have working brain. Still stupid though." Strong replied, chewing on his thumb. He spit a massive loogie into the ashes, which groaned a frothing, irradiated hiss in response. 

"And here I was about to congratulate him on the twig metaphor," Nick said. He was hunched over, a screw jammed into his mesh-like right hand. He felt no pain - I was pretty sure - but he winced all the same, the metal sculpted to look like eyebrows over his forehead pinching at the bridge of his silver nose. He'd accidentally clipped his pinky finger off. It was dangling from a bit of red wires. "If we prick us, do we not bleed?" He almost sang to me. A voice like honey and sand and one I never got used to hearing. I'd once cursed myself for thinking a machine could sound so ….well. Sexy.

And then one day I discovered I didn't think of him as a machine anymore. He was more of a man than many of the ones I'd met in the Wasteland.

And that was an admission I'd be taking to my grave.

"Shit, Nicky," My heart flipped - and I ignored it, instead chalking it up to my surprise. "Did you just quote Shakespeare?"

"I guess so," He shrugged. "Something I remembered...from before." A smirk pulled at his mouth. Part of it peeped out of the opening in the left side of his warn-torn face. "Now, ask me why a cop would know lines from a Shakespearean play - and....well. I won't have any hell of a clue."

"Why metal man use dumb words too? UGH." Strong clapped his hands together - violently green as the rest of him, and each as big as the size of my face - ridding them of grime and flecks of blood. He paused a moment, looking sincerely strained. I could tell he was looking at me intently, his beady, blood-shot eyes piercing through the flames. "Strong has question for lady Human."

"Lady Human is listening," I grunted back, putting on my best Super Mutant voice.

"Why Lady Human sit with Super Mutant and Metal Man? Why not talk to other Humans?" 

The potential his question had for profundity left me speechless. And I had been a fucking lawyer for eight years. I felt Nick's bright yellow eyes on me. He could have been scanning me for all I knew....analyzing my brain waves, or something. And then I felt terrible having such a thought. And then I wondered why the hell I cared because Nick probably didn't. Probably.

Still. I never would have said it aloud.

"Um, well..." I threw my empty stick back onto the fire. "Because..." I looked over at the nearest dilapidated house. Bonfires, scattered all about, people - humans - sitting around in lawn chairs, laughing and joking, drinking whiskey and Nuka Colas. And here I was, supposedly the "Chief" of them all...sitting with a Super Mutant and a Synth. Dogmeat was sniffing around in the grass behind me. So count a dog as being privy to the party, as well.

"Because I trust you both more than anyone else," I started, simply. "Everyone else is liable to see either of you from across a stretch of road and kill you on sight. And vise versa. I saved you both and not only were you thankful....but you tell me everything like it is. You pull no punches." I spat into the fire. "You know the harshness of this world, and without giving two flying fucks about your own mortality - you still help those that would shoot you on sight."

"And they don't, because you're with us, boss." Valentine's fleshy hand found its way to my knee. Albeit briefly. He just patted it...and then the touch was gone.

"Yeah. Human lady is better than other Super Mutants. Most Super Mutants don't understand how important it is to find milk of human kindness." Every time he said that, it threw me for a loop. I could never decide if he was laying some bonafide intelligence on my ass - or just continuing to repeat what it was Rex Goodwick had railed on to him about. 

That gave me an idea. "Hey Strong. Ever hear this one? 'Men of few words are the best men.'"

"No." 

"Well. There you have it." 

I stretched languidly. The night sky was filled with stars, and breathtakingly beautiful. With only a few lights on, smattered around the Commonwealth, I could actually see them. The little dipper hung over me, scooping bits of the clouds away.Strong clambered off with a huff. Dogmeat barked excitedly, and trotted along after him. I was inwardly worried that the Mutant would try petting him on the head again. The last time he did it, the poor mutt got a minor concussion.

After a long stretch of silence, Nick muttered, "Henry the Fifth. Not the most popular piece, but a quote from it, all the same."

I turned to him. "You never cease to amaze me, you know that?"

Valentine ducked his head down. His metal hand adjusted the hat on his head in an awkward manner no artificial intelligence could replicate. "I think there's a lot of things about me that would amaze you." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" I whispered. Why did I feel breathless? I felt like a school girl all over again. My fingers went numb. My cheeks burned. Like Strong would say: Feelings are stupid. I only get hungry. And angry!

"Heh." He peered up at me from the lip of his hat. "I'm not sure yet."

God damn you, Valentine.


End file.
